Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa - Announced

June 29th, 2007, 16:35

This newly announced game from indie publisher Shrapnel is certainly in the running for some "worst names" list. I don't know if we'll be following this in the future (self-described as a "dungeonbash") but the PR mentions being in the tradition of Nethack and Rogue. Here we go:

Hone your blades and prepare for glory! Shrapnel Games is pleased to announce that British developer Chronic Reality has joined with Shrapnel to publish their upcoming game, Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa, a single-player, action orientated dungeonbash for Windows.In Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa, a mysterious evil has begun to plague the good citizens of Gosling valley. Livestock is vanishing, people are cowering in their homes, and telemarketers keep calling during the dinner hour. Even worse, the valley's supply of mushrooms is suffering, and for the valley mushrooms are life. Providing everything from shelter to sustenance, from magic to medicine, the shroom supply must flow once more!In the tradition of NetHack and Rogue, players control a single character, Rapius the mighty farm laborer, in his quest to defeat the forces of darkness and become the savior of Gosling valley (and its shrooms!). Rapius, who begins his virtual career with barely a rag to wear, must penetrate eighty levels of darkness, growing in power with each denizen of the dark slain, each newly acquired trinket, and every mushroom consumed, until at last he meets his final foe, the dreaded Medusa!Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa provides players with a fascinating array of options to explore, making every game a unique experience. Rapius will face dozens of monsters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, various environmental hazards, and deadly boss encounters. Along the way he'll learn to craft items, drink potions, eat magic mushrooms, smoke fungus, imbibe booze (from cheap Gobbo ale to lip-smacking Moon River whiskey), and much more. Among other things Rapius can become invisible, diseased, hungover, poisoned, and even a werewolf (hopefully not all at once)!Rapius must also master his lantern, his source of illumination in the underworld. If the lantern is turned up Rapius will be able to see (and be seen!) further into the void, allowing him to make long range attacks on his foes. If the lantern is turned down, Rapius can attempt to creep past danger, sidestepping beasties he's not quite ready to tackle.If the lantern is burning hot and bright, oil is more quickly consumed than when the wick is low. While oil flasks are scattered throughout the adventure, knowing when to flare and when to soften the light is a key strategy to Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa.With eighty levels consisting of eight worlds, dozens of monsters, countless numbers of items, diverse player conditions, and a ton of surprises, all randomly generated before each session, Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa provides endless replayability. If players ever do reach a point that they think they've seen everything the game has to offer thanks to RAGe, they haven't!RAGe stands for Random Adventure Game engine, and is included with Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa. RAGe allows full modding capability without any programming experience. Literally everything in the game can be altered with RAGe, allowing not only whole new adventures for Rapius, but totally new games. Change the graphics, items, magic, music, everything. All it takes is creativity and time.Scott Wakeling of Chronic Reality reports, "Our primary goal with Scallywag was that gameplay would always come before graphics. Given the choice between a fancy new visual effect, or some fun new mutator or magic item, we would shoot for gameplay every time! Looking at the game now, there is so much to be discovered and enjoyed in Scallywag, it's just awesome. Effort really equals reward with this title!Our second main goal was that Scallywag should be highly moddable without any programming skills. What we didn't realize in those early days was how the decision would come to dramatically affect the game's own development internally. It has always been so fast and easy for us to add new content and behavior to Scallywag. Many features have come and gone in the past, as removing something that didn't work was just so easy thanks to the RAGe. What we've ended up with is a really finely balanced game, there's just nothing we would want to remove now!We're hoping all our players are going to get as much fun from playing this game as we got from making it!"Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa is currently undergoing beta testing, and no release date has been set. Stay tuned to Shrapnel Games (www.shrapnelgames.com) for more information as it is made available, and in the meantime be sure to check out our catalog of award-winning titles. We also have available totally free games, now featuring Conquest of Elysium II, forerunner to the famous Dominions series of fantasy-strategy games.